Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Dany Boon | ... | Bazil | |
André Dussollier | ... | Nicolas Thibault de Fenouillet | |
Yolande Moreau | ... | Tambouille | |
Dominique Pinon | ... | Fracasse | |
Marie-Julie Baup | ... | Calculette | |
Michel Crémadès | ... | Petit Pierre | |
Nicolas Marié | ... | François Marconi | |
Julie Ferrier | ... | La Môme Caoutchouc | |
Omar Sy | ... | Remington | |
Jean-Pierre Marielle | ... | Placard | |
Urbain Cancelier | ... | Le gardien de nuit de Marconi | |
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Patrick Paroux | ... | Gerbaud |
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Jean-Pierre Becker | ... | Libarski |
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Stéphane Butet | ... | Matéo |
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Philippe Girard | ... | Gravier |
Avid movie-watcher and video store clerk Bazil has had his life all but ruined by weapons of war. His father was killed by a landmine in Morocco and one fateful night a stray bullet from a nearby shootout embeds itself in his skull, leaving him on the verge of instantaneous death. Losing his job and his home, Bazil wanders the streets until he meets Slammer, a pardoned convict who introduces him to a band of eccentric junkyard dealers including Calculator, a math expert and statistician, Buster, a record-holder in human cannonball feats, Tiny Pete, an artistic craftsman of automatons, and Elastic Girl, a sassy contortionist. When chance reveals to Bazil the two weapons manufacturers responsible for building the instruments of his destruction, he constructs a complex scheme for revenge that his newfound family is all too happy to help set in motion. Written by The Massie Twins
I saw 21 films at the 2009 Toronto Film Fest, and while many of them were good, this one was the best by a wide margin. If you've liked any of Jeunet's movies in the past, you can put this one down as a sure thing (provided that your favorite isn't ALIEN RESURRECTION). All of the Jeunet elements you love -- colorful, quirky characters (in this case, a whole gang of them), other-worldliness, incredible color schemes, chain reactions, etc. -- in a new concoction that doesn't feel repetitive or derivative in the slightest. As a sympathetic character with a gift for physical comedy, leading man Dany Boon can hold a candle to Chaplin and Keaton. It's simply a masterpiece ... the kind of film that will keep me coming back to this festival forever.